


The Check-In

by bluegeekEM



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Between the Scenes, Episode Tag, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, ManDadlorian, Podfic Welcome, References to Season 2 Episode 4, parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27651698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluegeekEM/pseuds/bluegeekEM
Summary: It's nice having other people to show their care for the the kid, Mando thinks.  If only that didn't also result in them questioning Mando's parenting decisions in challenging situations.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 128





	The Check-In

“And you come here, little one. Has Mando been taking good care of you, huh?” Greef tore his eyes away from the kid to shoot Mando a playful glance. “Have you been taking good care of him? Yeah. Yeah?” Greef returned his attention to the child. “He said yeah!”

The child babbled happily back as Greef carried him away, continuing his mostly one-sided conversation without any hint of self-consciousness.

Cara smiled and turned with Mando to trail after the chattering pair. 

“Why do you and the kid smell singed?”

Of course she would immediately focus on that. “He was helping me try to repair the ship and we had a little… mishap with the wiring.”

Cara raised an eyebrow. “Mishap? You’re training the kid to be an electrician, now? Or would that be a mechanic?”

Obviously overhearing them, Greef stopped in his tracks just outside the town entrance and held the kid out for another inspection. “Regardless of what he calls it, it’s not an appropriate activity for a baby! Come on, little tyke. Let Uncle Greef have a look at you. I need to make sure you aren’t any worse for wear considering Mando’s surprising penchant for child labor.”

“It wasn’t child labor!”

Why had Mando thought this would be a good place to seek refuge?

Behind them, Mando could hear a spine-tingling screech as the port mechanics tried to coax the _Razor Crest’s_ main hatch fully open.

Ah, right.

“Still not an appropriate activity for a baby.”

“Aww, I’m with Mando on this one, Boss,” Cara said with a fond smile. “Didn’t you ever tinker on a speeder with your dad, handing over tools and fetching spare parts?”

Greef grunted and settled the kid into the crook of his elbow again once he was satisfied that the little guy was in good health. “It was my mother, actually, but yes. And to this day I still prefer to hire out that sort of work.”

“Color me shocked,” she fired back.

“Sounds like it was Mando and the kid who were shocked.”

Cara didn’t bother to muffle her snort of laughter.

“Funny.” Mando sighed. “We need to work on his color identification and direction following skills.”

“Ah,” said Greef as he resumed walking into town. “Now that is something I can help with. My father was a teacher and I used to watch him plan lessons. I bet I can track down a few good education guides and manuals on child development that will get you started.”

Mando and Cara fell into step behind him once again, letting his chatter wash over them for a moment before Cara cocked her head at Mando and grinned.

“What?”

“Well, for one thing, are you sure the kid can even see in color?”

Huh. Well. That was… potentially a good point.

As they entered into the crowd of people, Mando chose to put aside contemplation of his child-rearing missteps for the moment and instead focus on assessing the area for hidden dangers and cataloguing the rather significant changes that had occurred since their last time on _Nevarro_.

“Looks like you two have been busy.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, Mando. Maybe sending the kid off into the innards of your ship to play around in the live wires is perhaps not the _best_ decision to make, after all...


End file.
